“Giving a child an education is by far one of the most important investments we can make.”  ~Usher

What's the current global situation in education?

In 2010 primary education enrollment in developing regions reached 90 percent. That means that since 1999 the number of primary school enrolment in developing regions increased by 8 percent. In other words, an additional 40 million children got to go to school. This was a huge improvement and worthwhile global investment!

However, since then that improvement has remained largely stagnant and there have been some setbacks. Today, 58 million primary school age children remain out of school and more than half are girls. 50 percent of these out of school children live in conflict-affected areas and that number has grown since 2008.

You might be asking yourself what is being done about this.

The Global Partnership for Education (GPE) is the only multilateral partnership that coordinates action to get all children in school and learning.

The “partnership” in GPE is a collaboration of donor governments, multilateral agencies, private sector and civil society organizations all working together to invest in education and in children’s future.

GPE has invested over 950 million US dollars in fragile and conflict-­affected partner countries, and between 2002 and 2012 the number of out of school children in these countries dropped by 15 million. Also, the rate of girls completing their primary education in GPE developing partner countries increased by 13 percent between 2002 and 2012.

So how does it work? GPE is primarily funded by donor government contributions, and this is where the United States comes into play. The US government contributed $45 million to GPE in 2014. $45 million is no joke! Among other things these funds go to making sure more girls and children with disabilities receive an education and countries where they live have effective national education plans. As a global citizen, I want to thank the US for acting as a champion for education. But as a US citizen, I would like to see increased contribution from the United States to GPE (countries like Denmark and Netherlands with much smaller economies contribute 5 times more). I think the US can do better! Don’t you?

We need as much support as we can get! Sign the petition by hitting TAKE ACTION NOW and join me in tweeting US leaders to increase funding for the Global Partnership for Education to $125 million in 2016.

Editorial

Defeat Poverty

Education for all? We got this.

By Francis Bencik